Gulf Airlines Go On The ‘Jobs’ Offensive

They say the best form of defence is attack, and the weapon currently being used by the airlines of the Gulf is – JOBS.

Gulf airlines like Emirates have been criticised by their legacy peers in Europe for their perceived level of government support.

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The fast growing state-owned airlines of the Middle East have come under flack from their legacy peers in Europe time and again.

Just last month, a group of airlines, led by Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM SA, wrote a letter (seen by The Wall Street Journal) to the European Commission complaining about the serious threat of the “excessive growth of third country carriers, supported by their governments”.

The airlines of the Gulf have responded to such allegations, in varying degrees of subtlety over the years, with the emphasis mostly on their large aircraft order books, and crucially, the jobs those orders support.

“Emirates has 299 wide-body aircraft on its order book, including 90 more A380s, creating and sustaining thousands of jobs across the aircraft manufacturing supply chain,” Emirates said on Thursday as it announced delivery of its 50th Airbus Group A380 super-jumbo jet.

Just a day earlier when the world’s largest carrier by international traffic confirmed an order for 150 of Boeing Co.’s revamped 777 jet, the airline again mentioned jobs.

“With the order for 150 777Xs, Emirates now has 208 Boeing 777s pending delivery, creating and securing jobs across the supply chain,” said Emirates President Tim Clark in a statement.

The Gulf rhetoric seems to be well timed. In the letter to the European Commission, the European airlines also expressed worry about investments made from states that “ignore” the principles of “fair competition”.

Not surprisingly, while speaking in Vienna at a European Union conference on air transport competitiveness in Europe last week, Etihad Chief James Hogan said competition and external investment was not a “threat”, but an opportunity.

“Gulf carriers are not the cause of Europe’s aviation challenges,” Mr Hogan said, adding that his airline’s purchases of failing carriers in Europe had helped save thousands of jobs.

Meanwhile, straight-talking Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker was much clearer. He reportedly told German daily Handelsblatt: “If they (European airport slots) are limited further, we will stop buying European aircraft. We have 186 orders at Airbus. What impact would that have on German jobs?”